“I essentially suggested the idea that we do some sort of event or debate. And this was right after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, so I also thought it would breed some level of bipartisanship and maybe stop us from being so polarized,” Marcus Emmanuel, a first-year student political science major, told Fox News Digital.

“We’ve been talking with the Young Democrats on our campus, and they’ve been very open to having a debate, which is very exciting. They’ve been really looking forward to working with us,” Reese Cooper, president of UT-Tyler’s TPUSA chapter, told Fox News Digital.

SHOCK AND RESOLVE: STUDENTS REFLECT ON CHARLIE KIRK’S DEATH, FUTURE OF CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT

The president of the Young Democrats at University of Texas at Tyler (UT-Tyler) initiated the idea to collaborate with Turning Point USA for an event with hopes of fostering bipartisanship in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Kirk was killed while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.

Kirk built a following by touring the country to debate college students on culture-war issues such as gender ideology, racial divisions and the merits of Christian and American values in general.

He left behind a wife, Erika, and two young children. Ever since his death, Turning Point USA — the organization he founded — has beencatapulted into prominence and received overwhelming support.

Emmanuel said TPUSA should not be legitimized and hopes to persuade people to join their side after the debate.

“I kind of just want to reference it by saying that the goal isn’t to legitimize what TPUSA stands for. But rather, it’s more of an acknowledgment that the faction in society that agrees with the ideology is too large to isolate or ignore,” he added.

YEARS OF CAMPUS ATTACKS ON CONSERVATIVE ACTIVISTS RESURFACE AFTER CHARLIE KIRK’S MURDER

Charlie Kirk was killed while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

He continued, “The only way in which you can combat it is by engaging in dialogue with them. So my goal for the debate is to go about discrediting the message through facts and logic.”

Emmanuel said the vice president of the TPUSA chapter at UT-Tyler,Jonathan Roncancio, is in his general friend group. They had a conversation in the library about the TPUSA chapter recently being launched on campus.

“Our hope with Turning Point is to just educate and activate people, as well as create a community on the college campus,” Roncancio told Fox News Digital.

He added, “Our goal is to create a conservative community where people can come and discuss ideas. We really just want to make a free market of ideas that people can use and debate anything that they want to debate. We don’t want to just welcome one idea. Our goal was to create discussion and debate and just host good discussions.”

DAVID MARCUS: PROGRESSIVE MADNESS KILLED CHARLIE KIRK, A ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION LEADER

Charlie Kirk built a following by touring the country to debate college students on culture war issues such as gender ideology, racial divisions and the merits of Christian and American values in general. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Emmanuel said that the date of the event is tentative, though expected to occur some time in November.

“I thought that the temperature was way too high, so I wanted to kind of use it as an opportunity to also turn down the temperature and for both sides to realize that the other side is human, even if there’s disagreements between us,” Emmanuel said.

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“I don’t think the president of the United States is doing an effective job at kind of turning down the temperature or telling both sides to turn down the temperatures,” he said.

Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.

Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation’s Young Leaders Program. 

Story tips can be sent to joshua.nelson@fox.com and Joshua can be followed on Twitter and LinkedIn. 

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Hernandez, a field reporter for Turning Point USA’s Frontlines and a contributor to the organization, spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital about the experience. She described being targeted with racial comments from what she characterized as a predominantly older White crowd while covering the protest.

Hernandez has been covering protests like this one for several years.

“I have been covering on the ground protests, riots, the illegal immigration crisis, basically every story that the mainstream media refuses to touch for the last six or seven years now,” Hernandez said.

POLICE SWIFTLY REMOVE ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS WHO INVADED TRUMP TOWER AS NATIONWIDE DEMONSTRATIONS INTENSIFY

At this protest, Hernandez said she experienced racist remarks.

When she was trying to “rationalize” with an older White male protester who made the claim that Charlie Kirk was “this horrible racist antisemite,” she shared what happened next.

“I tried to, you know, rationalize with him and say, ‘hey, I’m an Asian-Hispanic woman. Charlie has hired me to represent his organization. How does that make him a racist?’ He then called me a token and said that everybody needs one, apparently.” Then the protester went on to call everyone associated with Turning Point a “fascist,” according to Hernandez.

She described that rhetoric as “very normalized” throughout the protest.

“It’s hilarious because the same exact people that are screaming that the right wing are racist are the same ones that are consistently telling me that I’m brown, that I, you know, shouldn’t think the way that I do, that my politics are wrong, and that I’m gonna get deported,” she said. “It didn’t bother me because it’s something that I’m used to hearing from the left wing. I have gone to protests outside of ICE facilities, and I am constantly told that I am going to be deported and that I am next.”

ILLINOIS STATE TEACHING ASSISTANT FIRED AFTER TRYING TO FLIP TPUSA TABLE TWICE IN VIRAL CLASH

Video

Hernandez said she has never feared ICE or the police because she follows the law, just like other law-abiding citizens who have no reason to be afraid of law enforcement. However, she often hears people tell her that she’ll be deported, that she’s just a token, or that she wants to be White.

Hernandez added that she isn’t a fan of the labels.

“I don’t even like the label of I’m a Hispanic Asian woman myself. Like I said, I brought that up to this individual because he himself thinks that Charlie is some White supremacist racist, and to give him a real world example, you know, I’m a living one.”

Hernandez pointed out the demographics she witnessed at the NYC protest.

“Primarily older and whiter, I would say, which is very interesting. And it usually is these people who are the most outspoken. We are seeing a lot of the older generation really come out to these protests specifically.”

AMERICAN TRUST IN MEDIA REACHES RECORD LOW IN NEW GALLUP POLL

Over 100,000 people gather and march in Manhattan for the “No Kings” protest in New York City on Oct. 18, 2025.   (Neil Constantine/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Hernandez said that she is “not afraid” and will continue to do her work.

“I’m not afraid of these people. I think they are very radicalized, but I also think that we need people that are willing to go in the street and tell the truth. So you know, whatever happens, so be it,” she said.

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Fox News’ Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.

Elizabeth Heckman is a writer for Fox News Digital.

The post How a Turning Point reporter turned the tables on a liberal protester throwing racist insults at her appeared first on My Blog.

A post Thursday from Frontlines TPUSA, the official “on-the-ground national coverage” account for Turning Point USA, shared a video of the incident on X, formerly Twitter, writing: “WATCH: ‘Kirk got shot in the neck for a reason.’ University of New Mexico police arrested a student who attempted to steal signs from a Turning Point USA student tabling event. The student resisted arrest but was ultimately taken into custody.”

In the video of the incident, a masked man argues with people at the Turning Point USA table, objecting to their buttons about criticizing socialism. At one point, when invited to debate his views, the man said, “You’re doing the Kirk bulls—. Kirk got shot in the neck for a reason.”

“Whoa,” a woman replied. “That’s not cool at all. Charlie was a father and a husband.”

WARNING: Graphic language:

“So are a lot of socialists,” he replied.

The man added that Kirk promoted violence before taking the Turning Point USA signs. The Turning Point USA video is edited, so it’s not clear what transpired before he is seen being arrested by campus police.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Ben Cloutier, executive director of strategic communications for the University of New Mexico, said, “The University of New Mexico is firmly committed to the principles of free speech and values its role as a public square for debate, a marketplace of ideas, and a place to test and challenge competing viewpoints and opinions.”

TURNING POINT USA DRAWS 2,000 AT FIRST TOUR EVENT SINCE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION

Police at the University of New Mexico (UNM) arrested a student who allegedly tried to steal Turning Point USA signs during a campus tabling event and said that “Kirk got shot in the neck for a reason,” referring to slain TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk. (Sam Wasson/Getty Images)

Cloutier added that the university “remains dedicated to protecting constitutionally protected expression while ensuring the safety of our campus community.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the University of New Mexico Turning Point USA chapter and the University of New Mexico Police for comment.

A memorial for Kirk was held on Sept. 13 on the university’s campus.

The 31-year-old co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA was shot and killed on Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University during his American Comeback Tour.

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Charlie Kirk speaks before he is assassinated during Turning Point USA’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)

Since Kirk’s death, requests for new TPUSA chapters have surged nationwide.

According to the organization, more than 120,000 students have inquired about launching new high school and college chapters in the weeks since Kirk’s assassination.

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Since Charlie Kirk’s death, requests for new TPUSA chapters have surged nationwide. (Alex Wroblewski / Getty Images)

Rachel del Guidice is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to rachel.delguidice@fox.com.

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